The Power of Almost Winning

Sometimes, nearly hitting a goal can be just as inspiring as actually achieving it. While this concept might be somewhat counterintuitive, there has been quite a bit of research into this phenomenon that I was made aware of listening to a Hidden Brain podcast titled, “Near Wins, And Not Quites: How Almost Winning Can Be Motivating.”

Through interviews and citing the research of his guests, Shankar Vedantam explores this possibility, presenting some interesting findings. According to the research of Monica Wadhwa, who as a young girl felt the thrill of almost winning the lottery, coming very close to a goal can motivate you to win something else that comes up. For her it was a big exam in school, but for you it could easily be the next audition, big job interview, or fantasy football matchup (which I’m sure for some of you will matter greatly in the coming months).

There are a lot of interesting implications in this idea. However, I think for this effect to be really powerful, we also have to frame our “failures” in the right way. Instead of reacting as if the world screwed you over in some way, get excited about how close you got! Think about what you can do to push yourself to the next level that might get you to the goal you just barely missed.

A couple years ago a was a finalist in a principal horn audition for an orchestra, but I didn’t win the job. I was disappointed, but also really excited! I was so close! After that, I was able to ride that excitement and keep working hard toward whatever opportunity was going to come my way next.

Weekly Charge
Think about a recent “miss” and notice how you respond. How can you alter your outlook to spin a failure into motivation? This is not always an easy task. Take some time to process the failure, but think about what you can do to push yourself over the edge next time. You might even discover you are creating obstacles for yourself, an idea we are going to discuss next week...